Since the No Molds Required plastic fabrication technology is unique and new to most people, we thought it would be fun to share some key terms, A to Z, that we use around our shop. These terms include manaufacturing vocabulary relating to plastic enclosure design, fabrication equipment, manufacturing processes, custom housing projects, and many other topics. Let us know if these terms spring any questions for you or apply to any projects you are working on!
- A - Acrylonite Butadiene Styrene: ABS plastic is widely used as a material in our custom manufactured cases. We use multiple grades and blends of ABS sheet material
- B - Benefits: There are many benefits and advantages to using the No Molds Required plastic fabrication technology. Custom enclosures - no molds, no tooling, no problem!
- C - Custom: Like mentioned above, all we make are custom plastic products - enclosures, panels, bins, and other types of housings.
- D - Design: Since NMR Technology is new to most engineers and designers, we are there to help with taking the initial concept provided and designing it to fit our capabilities.
- E - Enclosures: This is our specialty - custom plastic enclosures for electronics, PCBs, and other components requiring a housing. See our Enclosure Concepts page!
- F - Fabrication: The No Molds Required process uses plastic fabrication methods with specialized equipment and techniques to manufacture our plastic enclosures.
- G - Gaskets: to help aid in moisture, water, and dust protection, our enclosure designs are able to integrate different kinds of gaskets to help protect electronics from the elements.
- H - High Impact Polystyrene: Mentioned above if the use of ABS...High Impact Polystyrene is another widely used plastic sheet material that is UL94-Hb rated and RoHS compliant.
- I - Innovation: Since we support new projects, we see ourselves as an extention of the innovation our customers are creating. The value we add can help innovation come to life.
- J - Job Shop: We are not a "plastic enclosure factory". We are a custom builder of plastic enclosures that meet our customers specific drawings and project applications.
- K - Kydex: This brand of material is used for some customer applications that require a specific set of criteria. It is not stocked, but available to us in some different colors and grades.
- L - LCD: Ok, LCD is an acronym, but hey. In addition to enclosures we also make custom LCD panels and bezels. NMR can prove to be quite diverse with project applications!
- M - Medical: As in, Medical Market. We support many markets, but medical is a large one due to consistant new product development and demands for non-metallized materials.
- N - No Molds Required: Ok, three words, but it defines us. It is fun to answer the question "No molds or tooling required to make enclosures?" That's right. Plastic fabrication magic.
- O - Options: With our custom design process, we walk you through many options from product functionality, materials, and other ideas to maintain cost efficiency.
- P - Production: Sure, we make prototypes. However, our true value here is the transition from prototype to produciton. Prototypes are made to the exact same specs as production units.
- Q - Quality: Envision Plastics takes quality very seriously. Most projects we have serve applications and hold components that require specific and tighter tolerances.
- R - Raspberry: As is, Raspberry Pi units. A lot of times the off the shelf cases do not quite work for the functionality and desired use of the unit. This is where "custom" comes into play.
- S - Sheet: Envision Plastics' NMR Technology uses UL rated and RoHS compliant plastic sheet material (ABS, etc.). Some call NMR a combination of sheet metal fab and woodworking.
- T - Texture: Most of the materials (ABS, HIPS, Kydex) we utilize on plastic enclosures have a texture on them. This gives the fabricated parts a nice finished aesthetic look to them.
- U - UL Listed: Ok, another acronym. United Laboratories certifies our stocked production materials. These would include materials with ratings such as UL94-Hb, UL94-V0, UL945V, etc.
- V - Value: Referred to previously, NMR has tremendous value with project applications requiring custom plastic enclosures. No tooling or molds and design fexibility are just the start.
- W - Wall Mount: Despite being custom, most enclosures could fit into select design concept categories. One of these is "wall mount". Adding flanges or other functionality is easy!
- X - X Axis: Our CNC routers are programmed to run in the X, Y, and Z axis to produce our CNC milled plastic parts. Much like a laser would cut out metal parts.
- Y - Yellow: Sure, we have made yellow colored parts, but a Yellow Card is more important to define as it is the certification number applied by UL to our rated stocked materials.
- Z - Zero: Zero tooling or molds required! "Zero", "No", they both work! Zero up front payment is required for molds - which can also have long lead times holding up innovation!
Well, that's NMR A to Z. Over the 20 years we've been in business there have been a lot of terms used to describe our capabilties to our customers. We hope you have found it informative and helps to define your next innovative product!
